Grizzly and Lynx Join
Forces
The listing of the Grizzly Bear
under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has caused massive road
closures and restricted logging and most other activities on the
national forests in the northern Rockies. But, because of the
limited range of the bear, most of the impact was limited to the
area around Glacier and Yellowstone Parks and the Bob Marshall
wilderness.
Now the grizzlies road closing influence will
extend to the Cabinets, the Yaak, and parts of the Lolo and Idaho
Panhandle National Forests. Amendments to the forests plans for
those areas will close and destroy hundreds of miles of public
roads.
Still, there were large areas of the Northern
Rockies that are not affected. No longer. Because the grizzly bear
has been unable to lock up all the forests, the greenies recruited
yet another animal to do the job for them. The canadian lynx is the next
poster animal for the environmental conflict industry. Expect to
see stylized lynx images appearing on T-shirts and posters along
with the grizzly, wolf , spotted owl and eagle.
Beginning in 1991, the greens petitioned USFWS to
list the Canadian lynx every year until 1996. Their petitions were turned
down because of "a lack of sufficient scientific
data" on the lynx. In 1996 they sued and forced USFWS to
list lynx as a candidate species. In 1997 they sued again causing
the USFWS to list the species as threatened in 2000. This was done
to satisfy the insatiable - the environmental conflict
industry. It was not done because scientific evidence suggested
that there was a need for protection. Scientists still don’t
know much about lynx. The principal scientific document on lynx
says, "…we know very little about lynx ecology in the
United States…"
Senator Conrad Burns calls this "an
attempt to tie the hands of land managers and prohibit meaningful
timber harvest on federal forests." I would add that it
is part of a treacherous green scheme to keep everyone out of the
forest except those who fund and manage environmentalism.
The Draft EIS has been completed and the comment
period has ended. See our comments HERE.
The Preferred Alternative E will eliminate pre-commercial
thinning on all of the Region 1 forests. Timber production
will be curtailed. However it will allow for some hazardous
fuel reduction. Alternative E will restrict snowmobiling
some even though USFWS has decided that snow compaction,
ie.snowmobile trails, are not a threat to lynx.
The article on the lynx
hoax should dispel any
doubt that anyone
might have that the lynx listing is about land use
and not about protecting furry little creatures. This revealing
article will also expose the lack of integrity and determination
of many greenies who enforce their vision on America.
TOP
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Quotes from the Scientific Basis for Lynx
Conservation: Ecology and Conservation of
Lynx in the United States Chapter 16
…..we know very little about lynx
ecology in the United States and that understandings based on this state
of knowledge are necessarily incomplete.
…..until additional data are collected, we
must assume that insights based on well-established concepts
are valid.
Although we attempted to offer substantive interpretations in each of
these areas, a lack of information
often prevented us from doing so.
….we acknowledge a very incomplete
understanding of what constitutes suitable lynx and hare
habitat in the contiguous United States.
It is unclear how habitat structure
affects the vulnerability of hares to capture by lynx.
Our generally poor understanding of
lynx -habitat relation-ships at all spatial scales hampers the development
of specific habitat-management prescriptions.
Very little is known about lynx
diets during snow-free periods,
The optimal amounts and arrangement of these elements relative to lynx
persistence is unknown and represents
a critical research need.
However, data addressing these relationships
are very few, and a better understanding of community
interactions, and the ways in which landscape pattern may mediate these
interactions, is a key research need.
Existing data, though sparse, do
not indicate that roads are a major mortality factor for lynx
In the North, lynx are highly fecund and can double their population
size every year under optimal conditions, especially considering the broad
range of environments occupied by lynx
We conclude that we know little
about geographic variation in lynx , and thus the transfer of either
knowledge or animals from northern to southern populations entails
significant conservation risks. Moreover, this knowledge
gap hampers the identification of potentially distinct
population segments for conservation purposes.
The effects of recreational activities on lynx populations have not
been studied. However, limited anecdotal observations do not
support the hypotheses that snowmobiling, ski touring, or hiking result in
significant behavioral disturbance to lynx. Winter trails may impact lynx
indirectly by providing increased access to competitors, especially
coyotes.
ENDANGERED
SPECIES TOP
NORTHERN ROCKIES LYNX AMENDMENT
Synopsis
AREA OF CONCERN
The Canada lynx is a threatened species in the lower 48 states. Federal
land in the Northern Rocky Mountains has some of the last remaining
suitable habitat. The Northern Rockies Lynx Amendment will implement
management direction for lynx for the following national forests and BLM
units in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah:
National Forests
Beaverhead-Deerlodge
Clearwater Bighorn
Bitterroot Idaho Panhandle
Bridger-Teton Custer
Nez Perce
Shoshone
Flathead
Salmon-Challis
Gallatin Targhee
Helena Kootenai
Lewis and Clark
Ashley Lolo
BLM Units
Upper Snake River District Salt
Lake Field Office Lower Snake River
District Upper Columbia-Salmon Clearwater
District
The Forest Service and BLM believe that whenever practical, management
direction should be developed at the local level. However, with
lynx, new scientific information affecting many plans needs to be
addressed promptly and consistently. The Forest Service and BLM expect
this amendment to expeditiously update the affected plans with consistent,
broad-scale management direction for lynx. Once this amendment is in
place, individual plans may be amended or revised to respond to local
conditions. Seventeen of the 18 national forests will likely revise their
forest plans within the next few years (the Targhee National Forest
revised their plan in 1999). The BLM anticipates replacing their land use
plans within the next few years
PURPOSE AND NEED
The purpose and need for the proposed amendment is to establish land
management direction that conserves and promotes recovery of the Canada
lynx. It will reduce or eliminate adverse effects from activities on
national forests and BLM lands, while preserving the overall multiple-use
direction in existing plans.
The Forest Service and BLM expect to consider alternatives for the
planning area as a whole, rather than treating each unit individually.
This approach will streamline the consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service that’s required by the Endangered Species Act.
PROPOSED ACTION
The Forest Service and BLM will amend 18 forest plans and 18 land use
plans in the Northern Rockies to provide for conservation and recovery of
the Canada lynx. The amendment will incorporate management direction found
in the Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy
and Strategy.
When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion
about lynx a year ago, it said, "… if Plans are amended or revised
incorporating conservation measures in the Lynx Conservation Assessment
and Strategy… the Plans would likely not jeopardize the continued
existence of lynx" (p. 54).
The following summarizes the proposed changes:
Snowshoe hares, the lynx’s
primary prey, require dense sapling cover. New management direction would
affect where pre-commercial thinning of timber is allowed. Specifically,
it would defer pre-commercial thinning within lynx habitat until the
stands no longer provide snowshoe hare habitat.
Lynx use down trees and root wads
as den sites. New direction would change timber harvest practices to
provide denning habitat. Salvage logging could be limited.
Young aspen and lodgepole pine provide good
quality habitat for snowshoe hares. Shrub-steppe habitats are important in
naturally fragmented forests for movement and dispersal.
New direction would require that
livestock grazing be managed so new growth on aspen and lodgepole pine is
not impeded, and that shrub-steppe habitats be maintained.
Packed trails created by activities such as
snowmobiles, cross-country skiing and dog sleds, may serve as travel
routes for potential competitors and predators, especially coyotes. New
direction would allow increases in groomed trails or designated
over-the-snow routes and play areas only where increases would consolidate
use, and result in no net-increase of snow-compacted areas.
Ski areas and four-season resorts may affect
lynx denning, foraging, and security habitats, and their ability to move
between areas. The direction would require that certain types of
lynx habitat be retained, and that expansion not create barriers to lynx
movement and dispersal.
Highways, developments and other uses can
fragment large tracts of land, affecting the movement of lynx between
blocks of habitat. New direction would require that federal land
management activities maintain and restore habitat connectivity, by using
highway crossings, by retaining public ownership, and by ensuring new
developments don’t impair connectivity.
The agencies will prepare an
Environmental Assessment to evaluate the effects of the proposed action,
and to look at alternative ways to conserve lynx.
The proposed action has been
adopted and every forest in Region 1 has implemented a forest plan
amendment incorporating the action.
Critical Habitat
The Endangered Species Act allows
the USFWS to designate Critical Habitat for listed species.
This is a separate action from the recovery plan. The agency
does not always take this step. They originally determined
that Critical Habitat designation for Lynx would not help
recovery. After losing a lawsuit they undertook the
expensive and lengthy process of designation. Their first
proposal was so widely criticized for proposal designating
millions of acres of private land and no acres of Forest Servicet
land that they abandoned that proposal and settled on a very
minimal designation. The eviros sued again and forced USFWS
to go through the designation process. Their current
proposal includes all the private land and public land above 4000
feet in the NW Montana.
Lynx Fraud
Excerpts from "Rare lynx hairs found in forests exposed as
hoax."
By Audrey Hudson THE WASHINGTON TIMES Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20011217-7117603.htm
The previously unreported Forest Service investigation found that the
science of the habitat study had been skewed by seven government
officials: three Forest Service employees, two U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service officials and two employees of the Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife. The officials planted three separate samples of Canadian
lynx hair on rubbing posts used to identify existence of the creatures in
the two national forests. DNA testing of two of the samples matched that
of a lynx living inside an animal preserve. The third DNA sample matched
that of an escaped pet lynx being held in a federal office until its owner
retrieved it, federal officials said. Had the deception not been
discovered, the government likely would have banned many forms of
recreation and use of natural resources in the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest and Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state
The employees have been counseled for their actions and banned from
participating in the three-year survey of the lynx, listed as a threatened
animal under the Endangered Species Act. Federal officials would not name
the offending employees, citing privacy concerns.
The lynx listing and habitat study began in 1999 during the Clinton
administration and concludes this year. It was criticized by Westerners as
a political move to impose restrictions on public lands. Radical
environmental groups felt the restrictions didn't go far enough. To
protect the habitat of the felines, roads would have to be closed to
vehicles, and off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, skis and snowshoes would
have been banned. Livestock grazing and tree thinning also would have been
banned. "It was rigged from the word go; it was full of bad biology
and bad politics," Mr. Beers said. "It gave them [the federal
government] carte blanche to go after ski resorts, stop road building and
go after ranchers and tree cutters." When the Vail Ski Resort
announced an expansion of trails into possible lynx habitat, the radical
animal-rights group Earth Liberation Front (ELF) torched five buildings
and four ski lifts in protest. The Oct. 18, 1998, fire caused $12 million
in damage and was the largest act of eco-terrorism in the United States.
No arrests were made, and the statute of limitations expired in October.
This past summer, ELF planted spikes in hundreds of trees to sabotage a
timber sale and protect the lynx and spotted owls in the Gifford Pinchot
National Forest - one of the forests where the false samples were planted.
This isn't the first time forestry officials have encountered
questionable studies to identify the presence of lynx in the Northwest. In
1999, a scientist hired by the federal government submitted lynx hair
samples supposedly found in the Oregon Cascades, farther south than where
the animals were thought to exist, said Chris West, spokesman for the
American Forest Resource Council. Federal officials spent thousands of
hours and tens of thousands of dollars trying to duplicate the finding but
found no evidence of the creatures. The hairs were never validated, the
samples were thrown out, and the contractor was never paid, Mr. West said.
"These are cases of rogue biologists trying to influence
natural-resources policy," Mr. West said. "There has clearly
been some shenanigans going on here," he said of the false sampling
in Washington.
Forest Service officials say this year's errant sampling was caught and
therefore did not affect the integrity of the sample survey. "We have
looked at it carefully and feel the overall integrity of the sampling
effort is in place, and the ongoing results will have valid scientific and
sound results," said Heidi Valetkevitch, Forest Service spokeswoman.
However, the incident has damaged the integrity of the federal agencies
within their own ranks and in the communities they serve. "It
destroys the credibility of the hard work we are trying to do to track
these animals," said one retired Forest Service employee. Mr. Gordon
said the false sampling aggravates an already distrustful relationship
between Westerners and the federal government. "This revelation makes
all the projects these offices and individuals were involved in suspect,
and may merit review," Mr. Gordon said.
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